In Nathaniel Hawthorne's “Young Goodman Brown”, he recreates a time most recalled of the Puritans: the Salem witch trials. He includes multiple historical names associated with the trial, some of them even of his own ancestry. These historical facts are important to his story because it builds a sense of apprehension, doubt and superstition in the reader, while containing tangible connections to reality. It also allows contemporary readers to examine the issues and see the repercussions of such a belief system and the impact it can and did have. In early 14th century Europe, many people had a strong belief in the supernatural, or more specifically, in the devil giving certain humans (“witches”) powers to hurt others. This belief resulted in tens of thousands of people killed from being accused of witchcraft. The Salem witch trials occurred in 1692 until 1693, when a group of young girls living in Salem Village, Massachusetts convinced the leaders of the town that they were possessed by the devil and blamed many women being the cause of their possessions. It all began when 9 year old Elizabeth Parris, daughter of Samuel Parris (minister of Salem Village) and 11 year old Abigail Williams, niece of Samuel Parris, began having random “fits”. They would have outbursts of screaming, violent contortions, throwing things, and making strange sounds. Doctor William Griggs observed them and diagnosed that they have been bewitched. After his diagnosis, more girls in the village began displaying the same symptoms. (History.com) On February 29, the girls went to court and under pressure from judges Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne (Hawthorne's great-great-grandfather), they accused three women in their community for bewitching them: Sarah Go... ... middle of paper ... ...th (Colacurcio 286, 312). Hawthorne emphasizes the reality of the Puritanism world and that even though all of these people were good Works Cited Blumberg, Jess. "History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian." History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian. Smithsonian.com, 24 Oct. 2007. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. . Blumberg, Jess. “A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials.” Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 24 Oct. 2007. Web. 08 Feb. 2012. History.com staff, . "Salem Witch Trials - Facts & Summary." History.com. A&E Networks, n.d. Web. 6 Apr 2014. . Colacurcio, Michael J. The Province of Piety: Moral History in Hawthorne's Early Tales. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984.
The Salem witch trials of 1692 were one of the bloodiest witch-hunts in America colonial history. The event started in the house of the new minister of Salem, Samuel Parris, when his daughter, Betty, suffered from mysterious symptoms, and later she accused her slave, Tibuta, for using witchcraft on her. Later, two other women, Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne, were accused of using witchcraft on other girls; right after the accusations, they were arrested (Lecture 9/13/2016). As a result, the hunt of witches began which led to hundreds of arrests, and nineteen accused were hanged (Text 190). Although three hundred years have passed, the true cause of the episode remains a mystery. Many scholars have conducted numerous studies of the trails, however,
When one evokes The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, the image that comes to most peoples minds are that of witches with pointed hats riding broomsticks. This is not helped by the current town of Salem, Massachusetts, which profits from the hundreds of thousands of tourists a year by mythologizing the trials and those who were participants. While there have been countless books, papers, essays, and dissertations done on this subject, there never seems to be a shortage in curiosity from historians on these events. Thus, we have Bernard Rosenthal's book, Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692, another entry in the historiographical landscape of the Salem Witch Trials. This book, however, is different from most that precede it in that it does not focus on one single aspect, character, or event; rather Rosenthal tells the story of Salem in 1692 as a narrative, piecing together information principally from primary documents, while commenting on others ideas and assessments. By doing so, the audience sees that there is much more to the individual stories within the trials, and chips away at the mythology that has pervaded the subject since its happening. Instead of a typical thesis, Rosenthal writes the book as he sees the events fold out through the primary documents, so the book becomes more of an account of what happened according to primary sources in 1692 rather than a retelling under a new light.
Rosenthal. Bernard. Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692. Cambridge Mass: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Lathrop, G. P., ed. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. Binghamton, New York: Vail-Ballou, 1962. 439-40. Print.
Brooks, Rebecca . "The Salem Witch Trials." History of Massachusetts. N.p., 18 Aug. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .
Nathanial Hawthorne besieged with his ancestral ties to the Salem Witch Trials and his loathe for a Puritan society, lead him to create an allegory of a young man’s quest and his struggle between good and evil. Hawthorne wrote figuratively about Puritanical ideals, beliefs and social appearance in Young Goodman Brown. Also, the short story is centered on New England’s history, mostly inspired by Puritan beliefs.
Hinds, Maurene J. Witchcraft on Trial: From the Salem Witch Hunts to the Crucible. Library ed. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2009. Print.
"Salem Witch Trials of 1692." Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Ed. Douglas O. Linder. Linder, Douglas O., Sept. 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. .
The notorious witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts occurred from June through September. It is a brief, but turbulent period in history and the causes of the trials have long been a source of discussion among historians. Many try to explain or rationalize the bizarre happenings of the witch hunts and the causes that contributed to them. To understand the trials and how they came to be, we must first examine the ideals and views of the people surrounding the events. Although religious beliefs were the most influential factor, socioeconomic tensions, and ergot poisoning are also strongly supported theories. A combination of motives seems the most rational explanation of the frenzy that followed the illness of the two girls. This paper looks closely at the some of the possible causes of one of the most notable occurrences in history.
McBain, J. ‘The Salem Witch Trials: A Primary Source History of the Witchcraft Trials in Salem, Massachusetts’, (Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2002)
-Blumberg, Jess. “ A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials.” 24 October 2007. Smithsonian.com. 16 February 2010.
Blumberg, Jess. "A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials." Smithsonian Magazine. 24 Oct. 2007. 28 Oct. 2013 .
Lang, H.J. “How Ambiguous is Hawthorne?” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Blumberg, J. (2007, October 24). A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. Smithsonian Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/?page=2&no-ist
The story is set in seventeenth-century Salem, a time and place where sin and evil were greatly analyzed and feared. The townspeople, in their Puritan beliefs, were obsessed with the nature of sin and with finding ways to be rid of it altogether through purification of the soul. At times, people were thought to be possessed by the devil and to practice witchcraft. As punishment for these crimes, some were subjected to torturous acts or even horrible deaths. Thus, Hawthorne’s choice of setting is instrumental in the development of theme.